Sometimes I make things harder than they have to be. Early this summer, when the zucchini was fresh out of the garden, I looked around my cookbooks and online to find a good recipe for zucchini muffins or zucchini bread. I wasted some good ingredients on a recipe or two that we couldn't even eat. If we don't eat something, you know it's bad.
All I needed to have done was look in my recipe card file. There was a recipe there, tried and true, that I'd forgotten about entirely. It's a recipe for a traditional zucchini bread loaf, but due to circumstances (those circumstances being that I forgot to spray the loaf pan before I put in the batter and didn't feel like washing it right then to start over), I baked the batter in a pan-sprayed 8-inch x 8-inch pan and baked for 35 minutes instead of 60.
The result was fluffy zucchini bars that I think I like better than sliced zucchini bread. I'm sure I'll be baking this recipe this way again.
If you want a traditional loaf, just spread batter into loaf pan and bake for an hour.
Zucchini Bread
1 large egg (I used 2 small)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated zucchini (I had frozen it early in the season)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional) (I used black walnuts, but would be good with English walnuts or pecans)
Beat egg, sugar, oil, salt, zucchini and vanilla until well-combined. In a separate bowl, stir together cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and flour. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix just until moistened. Stir in nuts.
Spread batter into pan sprayed with pan spray. Use a loaf pan for bread or an 8-inch square pan for bars. Bake at 325°F. Bake 60 minutes for loaf or 35 minutes for bars.
Makes 1 loaf or 16 square bars.
11 comments:
I miss nuts.
What made the other recipes inedible?
Frances: I agree!
CJ: I think there was a typo or something. They weren't nearly sweet enough, almost like a savory muffin, but not enough flavor for that, either. I thought maybe I screwed up, so I was foolish enough to make another batch. They were just so boring that we wouldn't eat them.
Did you drain you zucchini? These look really yummy.
Miranda: No, I didn't drain it. I don't think I drained it when I shredded it earlier in the season, and I didn't drain it today; I just let it thaw and dumped it all in.
HEY! Got your note on my blog! LOL :) Great minds think alike I suppose! Mine turned out quite a bit darker than yours....maybe the pan I used? Hmmmm.... At least yours got a picture first!!!!
Amazing how the same recipe can give you such different results just by adjusting baking time and the size/shape of the pan!
Oh, if I didn't get put 1 single zuke out of the garden this year....sniff, sniff lol
have you ever tried blueberries in your zuke bread? I made it last yr. for the 1st time with berries and it just added that something extra. ;-)
This looks great. I like the idea of cooking it in an 8 x 8 pan; makes it more like a cake!
Kbabe1968: Yes, I'm pretty sure it was the pan. The one I used was very light colored aluminum, almost like stainless steel. My loaf pan is dark, and it would have made a darker loaf.
Sluggy: How much of the blueberries did you use for a loaf? I may have to try that next time.
Alea: Yes, it was more cake-like. Not as heavy as a "blondie" but more dense than a cake. It reminded me of my oatmeal cake recipe.
Blueberries.....at least a 1/2 a cup to 1 cup, depending on the size of your loaf pan.
How did I miss this post?? This looks amazing!
This one looks yummy!
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